


Sonic Forces: Another Rewrite

by Madyc25



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games)
Genre: Rewrite, Sonic Forces
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 11:48:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29153046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madyc25/pseuds/Madyc25
Summary: When Eggman attacks with a new weapon and Sonic’s defeated the world is taken over,we’ll follow Tails through a reworked and rewritten version of the story a majority of people disliked.
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

“ _Um... hello? Ugh this is silly... Hi I’m Miles “Tails” Prower. After what happened Amy suggested I express my inner emotions or something? Guess I better start at the what actually happened huh? Okay..._

_ Two days ago I was in the city when Eggman launched a huge attack. It caught everyone off guard. I contacted Sonic to come help and tried to get people to safety while he was on his way. I was doing pretty good, until Eggman and a small bunch of cornered me and some other citizens. Thinking back on it I can’t believe I didn’t even try to stand my ground and fight! I just cowered in fear. Thinking about it makes me so angry at myself because- well I’ll get to that in a second. _

_Anyways, Sonic came to the rescue, the citizens got away to safety, and we thought we had the upper hand again. But then Eggman revealed his true trump card. Chaos, Metal Sonic, Zavok, and even Shadow showed up by his side. And then a strange new henchman. Sonic tried to fight them all off while I tried to figure up what was up with the new guy. That’s when it happened. Sonic was defeated... Seeing Sonic defeated was so shocking. As much as a part of me wanted to try and fight and save Sonic, my fear took over and I ran. I was able to warn the others about what happened, but other than that- I did nothing._

_I guess I’m just... frustrated at myself for being a coward. Though Amy did say that staying out of the fight and running away was the best thing for me to do. Apparently if I had tried to fight, we would’ve both been captured and the others would’ve been caught off their guard. I think she’s just trying to make me feel better... that’s all for now I think._ ”

“ _Hey..! It’s me again. It’s been awhile since I’ve done this- things have been really chaotic around here. We’re struggling to find members for our little resistance. Eggman has been taking over since Sonic’s been- yeah... it’s been about- three weeks since the incident and people are too scared to join us against Eggman. Now it’s just Me, Amy, Knuckles, The Chaotixs. Oh! And just an hour ago Silver showed up! We’ve been trying to get in contact with Rouge- but nothings come upof that yet. Hm? Oh- I gotta g-_ “

“ _Hey... it’s me... I... I’m leaving the resistance. Why? Well we finally got in contact with Rouge and apparently Sonic’s gone. It been a few days since we’ve gotten the news and Amy’s been having to do the technical stuff since I’ve been a bit out of it. She’s actually pretty good at it. The team doesn’t really need me slowing them down. See you- uh well guess I won’t. This is Tails logging off for the last time._ ” 

Tails snuck out of the resistance base in the dark of the night, leaving a note behind. However as he ran away he realized he had nowhere to go. Nothing to do. Well that wasn’t entirely true. He did have one thing to do. Survive.

Over the course of the next few days Tails established a nice little spot in the city as his hide out. The only downside was that he really had to stay hidden. Apparently the others were actually looking for him. He felt bad for leaving them, running away like a coward. Again. He’d have to make it up to them somehow. But that was for later. Now he needed to find a way to disguise himself.

First things first, he needed to hide his extra tail. It was a dead give away. Luckily it was pretty easy to tie his tails together and fix them up to look like one fluffy tail. With that done he fix his hair up and “borrowed” some neat blue boots from a store. The boots gave him some extra height.

“Okay... I don’t think they’ll be able to recognize me easily like this... maybe I can wear a cool cloak? Be all mysterious. Hehe... heh...” he sighed. “No, this will have to do. Now, time to plan.”

~~~

Miles, having had chosen to not go by his nickname, smiled as he sat a box down in front of the new well hidden resistance base. He had to admit it was hard for him to track this place down. But where there’s a will there’s a way.

He opened the box one last time to look at his handiwork. It wasn’t much right now, but he’d managed to find, repair, and even modify some wispons for the resistance to hopefully use. But that’s not all he’d put in there. He also put blueprints for for an upgraded Lunar Fox and as little personal gift to them, his old Miles Electric. He wouldn’t need it since he was working on a new one. A ~~hopefully~~ better one.

He sighed and closed the block, leaving an anonymous note on top. He put in a failed password to open the main door, figuring someone trying, and failing, to get into the base would get their attention. That and their front cameras were disabled. He ran off and hid in a bush, peaking through the leaves.

As he’d predicted a few minutes later a cautious Knuckles came out from the base, ready to punch. He definitely seemed surprised to find an innocent looking box. Miles covered his mouth to keep from giggling at how Knuckles struggled to read the note. That’s when Silver came out.

“Hey commander, what’s going on out here- huh? What’s this?” Silver took the note and read it, he seemed to reread it before using his psychokinesis to lift the box and put it a safe distance just to be safe. He then used his powers to open the box and take whatever was inside out.

“Whoa! This is great! Looks like we’ve finally got those weapons we were talking about getting.” Silver said with a smile.

“Optimistic as ever huh?”

“I’ll take what I can get these days. come on let’s bring these inside and show the others.” And they did just that, Knuckles doing the heavy lift while asking Silver why he didn’t just use his floaty powers to bring the stuff inside.

Miles waited until the door shut to leave. He might be to far gone to stay with the gang and fight alongside them, but at least he could still offer some sort of support.   


“Alright... now that that’s taken care of time to focus on the next objective.” 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Decided to give Rookie some backstory here.

It was quiet, save for the sound of the occasional badnik passing by and the sound of a building collapsing. Miles, though these days he went by The Anonymous or just Anon, both loved and hated these moments. On the one hand it was nice to enjoy the peaceful silence while it lasted these days. On the downside peace was often followed up with chaos. 

“Help! Someone help!” As if on que the sound of a terrified citizen caught Miles’ attention. He fixed up the cloak he’d  stolen took from a broken down costume shop, as well as his specially modified mask he’d made to hide his identity better. The part that covered his were easy to hear through and a part was cut out near his mouth so he can fit a voice changer. 

He grabbed his tazer and a dummy ring and headed out of his little safe house. He could hear the commotion growing louder as he approached and climbed up a building and went to the edge to look down at the scene. From the looks of it it’s another crazed civilian. These were hard to deal with. Talking never seemed to work. They were either too apprehensive or to violent to want to listen to reason. And this one looked like a violent one. The crazed civilian had some red wolf guy as a hostage while a group was trying to get him to calm down before the red guy got hurt. 

Miles watched the guy, he wasn’t cornered so he could escape this situation with the hostage if things got worse. He figured he’d best stop this now before things got worse. He pulled out his tazer and readied himself. He hopped down behind the guy, careful not to make a sound as he landed. He walked up behind him and tazed him in the neck. The guy went down, twitching and it cold. Miles inwardly cringed at the sight. It never was pleasant to see. 

The red guy scrambled to his group of presumably friends or partners, who welcomed him back, relieved he was safe. 

“Thank you so much for your help um...”

“I go by The Anonymous, but Anon will do.” 

“You’re the famous Anonymous?!” The red guy asked. “You’re shorter than I thought you’d be-“

“Hey! I just saved you, geez kids don’t show respect these days...”

“I’m pretty sure I’m older than you.” Miles rolled his eyes behind the mask. “Well, anyways, thanks for saving me. It’s an honor to meet you.”

“It’s no honor, I’m just trying to help where I can.” Miles used the dummy ring to “cuff” the still unconscious crazy guy. “You lot got a safe place to stay? If not I have a small place nearby. If you’ve got other friends I’m sure you can contact them from there.” The group of people seemed to talk it over with eachother quietly. From the sounds of it they 

“If it’s not to much trouble, we’d like to accept your offer. Just for a few days.”

“Alright, come on, best we move fast.” Miles gestured for the small group of five to follow him, and led them to his safe little spot. 

~~~

“I swear, I may be the most mature person here...” Miles murmured as he watch his guests run around his base, looking around like children in a candy store. 

“Look at all these weapons! Did he make them himself?-“

“He really must be supplying the Resistance. I thought it was just a rumor!”

“Hey Rookie! Look at this gear!”

“Feel free to help yourself to anything. I’ve got food, water, clothes, weapons... yeah.”Tail’s voice got their attention. 

“Really? Thank you Anon.” He nodded in response and went to his work table. He was repairing a computer that, according to  his friends the Resistance, was broken by an accident fist related incident. He chuckled a little, ah Knuckles, how delicate he was... not. He had to admit, his relationship with the Resistance was nice, though they didn’t even know who he was. Even though they didn’t have a clue who he really was, they still worried about him, as their notes left for him indicated. Especially after the buzz bomber incident. It cost him his right eye. It was still there, just damaged and barely functional. Miles was tempted to make a replacement eye, but that didn’t sound fun to attach. 

“Go on, just ask him...!” He heard thewhisper of one of his guests and he peeked to attention. 

“Ask me what?”

“Oh uh-“ the red guy, Rookie he believed, started to stammer. “I was wondering if uh... you could fix my glasses..? That guy kinda... broke them.” This guy was quite nervous, and even seemed scared. It kinda reminded him of himself. 

“I don’t mind, bring them here, I’ll do my best to patch them up for you.” He turned his attention the the glasses that were now placed on his desk. It was just the frames that were broken luckily.Rookie stayed next to him, and watched him as he worked to repair his glasses. 

“Y’know, you were pretty brave back there. Being held hostage by a maniac is no laughing matter, and yet you seemed pretty calm.”

“Oh I was terrified..! I wasn’t brave at all!”

“Just because you were scared doesn’t mean you weren’t brave. You didn’t panic, you didn’t do anything to put yourself or your friends in danger, you didn’t even look scared. Well on the surface you did, but I could tell there was something else going on. Deep down.” He paused, finding it ironic he was giving this guy the pep talk he wished he could get himself. “You know, I’m sure with some proper training you’d make a good member of the Resistance.” 

“You... really think so..?”

“Yeah, I’d even be willing to put in a good work for you.”

“I’ll... I’ll think about it.”

“Hm... there we go. All fixed.” He handed the fixed glasses to Rookie, who put them on. 

“Thanks Anon... uh- you know it’s pretty hot in here. You must be burning up under all those clothes. Why not- you know- get comfortable..?” Rookie started stammer to fox his sentence, thinking it came out rude.Miles laughed. 

“Hey, calm down, it’s fine. Yes it’s hot here but I’m used to it. I don’t usually take off my stuff unless it’s to wash up. Gotta stay on your toes during these time after all.” Rookie nodded in understanding. 

“Well um- thank you again- I’ll leave you alone to work.” Rookie went back to his friends, and Miles turned his attention back to the computer that needed fixing. 

~~~

Dinner was certainly different, but in a good way. It’s been well over two months since he’s had real company, let alone guests. They certainly were a rowdy bunch too. He wanted to join in on their laughing, joking, and just having a good time. He really did. But he couldn’t. He didn’t want to get attached. They’d be leaving in a day or two, and then he’d be alone again. Besides, he had a cool, rouge, loner image to maintain. 

“Say, Anon, Anonymous can’t be your real name, right?”

“No, it’s not, it’s a code name of sorts for me.”

“So... what’s your real name?”

“Lilith! You can’t just ask him that..!” 

“It’s fine. My real name...” everyone went quiet, waiting for his answer. “Hm, tell ya what, meet me here once rotten old Eggman’s taken down and I’ll tell you then.” He smirked behind the mask.

“Aw man, I thought we’d actually get an answer.”

“Really? You shouldn’t have expected that from someone who’s code name is anonymous.”

After that dinner was fairly calm. They ate, they drank, they chatted some more with Miles silently listening to them, and then they all found comfortable places to rest. Miles of course stayed at his work bench and finish repairing the computers until dawn, reinforcing it so it could be knuckles proof. It may not be Knuckles proof though...

~~~

“Okay, I’ll only be gone for about an hour. If I’m not back by then retreat to the Resistance base. Got it?” Anon asked, taking on his new identity as The Anonymous completely. His guests turned house mates nodded. 

“We got it “boss”. You tell us the same thing every time you go out for your deliveries.” Lilith said. 

“I just need to make sure you guys actually understand what to do.”

“It’s been four months. I’m sure we know what to do by now Anon.” Rookie chimed in. 

“Alright... stay safe.”

“Right back at ya.”

Anon left with his box of supplies for the Resistance. Hoping to make it a quick trip. And when he was by the edge of the city it seemed like things were going to be fine. And of course that’s when things went wrong.

“And where are you off too?” That voice. He turned around and dropped his box in surprise. It was him! What did Eggman call him..? Infinite? 

“I suppose it doesn’t matter. You’re the one they call Anonymous, aren’t you? You’ve been quite meddlesome, so I’ll just have to get rid of you here. And now.” Infinite chuckled darkly as Anon stood there defiantly. “Though, I can’t put my finger on it, but you remind me of someone.”

Anon reached to grab his tazer, only to find it wasn’t on him. In inwardly scolded himself. How could he forget to bring it?!

“No matter, if I can’t remember you that merely means you were to weak and insignificant to bother remembering.” In a sudden blur of red, he was in front of Anon, and he had grabbed him by the throat, lifting him up. 

“Any last words?” He could hear the devious grin in his words. Anon could speak even if he wanted to with Infinite choking him. 

He was certain he was a goner, this was the end of his journey. Which is why he was surprised when he was suddenly drop and Infinite disappeared. He looked up and saw Rookie, hand held out for him to take. The other hand held his tazer. He must’ve used it on that Infinite guy. 

Anon took his hand and let himself be lifted up. Rookie checked him, looking to see if he was hurt. Once he was sure he wasn’t he backed off a bit. 

“That was to close. Your lucky I noticed you left this behind.” Rookie gave him his tazer. 

“Guess we’re even now Huh?” He teased, Rookie laughed a little and gave him a friendly punch to the shoulder. 

“Guess so. I-I better get back though, I didn’t really tell the others where I was going. Will you- oh he’s already gone...” Rookie sighed and turned back to the city. 

Anon watched from up in a tree. Once he could see Rookie was safetly in the town he headed to the Resistance base. 

He was happy to see the security cameras already off and a nice basket of small gifts waiting. They must’ve been expecting him to stop by. He left the box of supplies and took the basket, scurrying off.

“I’m back!” He announced as he entered his little home. When he wasn’t greeted with the normal “Welcome back!” He got worried. He looked around only to find Rookie was the only one there. He was sitting in his spot, staring blankly at the ground. 

“Rookie..? What happened..? Where are the others..?”

“He attacked us.” Anon felt his heart sink, already having a pretty good idea who “he” was. 

“...Infinite.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Classic Sonic joins the fight.

~~ Tails ~~ Anon was out in the town, working on a broken down Omega he’d found. The robot was too heavy to bring somewhere safe so he’d have to fix him out in the open. He wasn’t thrilled about it, but he couldn’t just leave his robotic pal to rust. As he was trying to fix his friend, his thoughts drifted. This happened more often these days as fatigue started gnawing at him.

Infinite’s been targeting him more since last time and he was going all out. Messing with him mentally, while beating him up. Each encounter was harder to win, and soon all he could do was run away. He never knew when he’d have to fight, so sleep was something he had started avoided. It didn’t help that during his earlier attacks he had completely destroyed the little safe spot he’d called home. It also didn’t help that he was alone now.

About a week after Infinite attacked and destroyed their friends, Rookie decided to leave, set on joining the Resistance. All he could do was wish him luck and see him off. He had faith in Rookie to not only be able to join the resistance but to do a lot of good in there. Knowing Knuckles he’ll probably start making moves the second he has Rookie as a new member. And odds are they won’t be well thought out moves.

Anon sighed, fanning his face, though it wasn’t very effective with his mask on. It’s been getting warmer and warmer since Eggman took over, his factories are probably to blame for that. The cities were hotter, the green hills were deserts, and the oceans were polluted and freezing over.

He looked around. No one was really in that town anymore. They’ve all retreated to safer places a long time ago. And yet he had stayed.

“I guess I can drop the disguise for now... let myself be me for a bit...” he mumbled to himself as he took off his mask and cloak, putting it aside. He looked at his tails for a moment, before deciding to untie them too. He stretched out his stiff tails.

“I doubt I can still fly as well as before... I haven’t really flown in in... how long has it been..? Six months maybe?” He blinked. “And I’ve started talking to myself... I think I’ve officially lost it...” He sighed as he turned his attention back to Omega.

“And... there. Huh? That should’ve done it...” he double checked his handiwork. “Everything looks right... sorry bud, looks like I’m just not smart enough...” he said as he walked around to the front of the slumped over Omega.

“I couldn’t save him... and now I can’t even fix you... I can’t even fix myself...” Before he could dwell on his depressing thoughts to much something got his attention from behind. He turned to look only to see Chaos emerge from the sewers.

“Whoa... Choas...!” He backed up a bit. He knew that Chaos, especially his version of him, was weak, easy to defeat. And yet he could help but feel stunned with fear. Maybe it was something about Choas? No... he was scare because... he didn’t believe he was strong enough to fight him.

“Sonic, help me!” He heard a voice cry out. It took him a moment to realize it was him. It took him another moment to realize he was crouched down, as if cowering and crying out from help- Sonic’s help- would do anything. “I’m so dead... I’m sorry Sonic... guys... everyone.” he thought as he waited for something to happen. When nothing happened he turned around to peek.

“S...Sonic! Wait- ohhh! You’re that Sonic from another dimension aren’t you?” The small, rounder, lighter blue Sonic gave a signature grin and nod.

“Hm...” he looked around before going over to grab his cloak and mask, putting them back on and tying his tails up. He didn’t know why, but he felt it be best if he disguised himself. If Chaos was here, Infinite could be around too. He didn’t need him finding out about his real identity.

“It might not be safe here, if Chaos is here his “friends” might not be to far away. Come on. Best we find some where safe to talk.” He looked back at Sonic, who looked puzzled.

“What’s wrong, don’t think you can keep up?” He teased, knowing the accusation will get Sonic’s attention instantly.

“Come on, keep up if you can.” He started running, knowing Sonic would be hot on his heels. 

~~~

“Here... we should be safe here...” They were hiding under some cement stairs. “Now then, I owe you some answers about what’s going on here Huh?” Sonic nodded and sat down for “story time”.

Anon explained everything he could. From Sonic’s capture and death to the six month long struggle that was too one sided to be considered a proper war. When Sonic gestured to him, probably asking why he looked like this he explained himself. He did his best to understand Sonics gestures and answer his questions. That is until he asked why he wasn’t with the Resistance. He had explained why he left, but Sonic wanted to know why he didn’t go back.

“I... don’t know why.” He admitted. “But that doesn’t matter, I don’t think I could go back now, even if I want to. As far as their concerned “Tails” has been gone for months, “Tails” has lost it... and I guess I have... They don’t even know if I’m alive.” Sonic gave his a cross armed disapproving look that screamed “ _you better go talk to them or I swear-_ “ if it had been coming from his Sonic he might have been a bit intimidated, but coming from this Sonic, it just looked cute.

“Look, I’m planning to come clean after this whole thing is over. I promise. But right now I need to be strong, useful... and if that means putting my emotions aside and hiding who I am from my friends, so be it.” He sighed. “Well, on the bright side, with you here we might actually have a chance against Eggman. That is, if you’re up to help of course.” Sonic jumped up, as if to say “ _Of course I’m up to help._ ”

“Good, then best we start now. The sooner, the better.” 

~~~

“My PAD is picking up Eggman’s signal, come on Sonic. Let’s check it out.” Sonic nodded and led the way through the city, Tails following and guiding from behind. They took care of badniks with ease. For a moment Anon found himself reminiscent of the good old days, but quickly got his mind back on track.

They made it through the City, and were now in Greenhill zone, well more like Sand hill zone. There weren’t to many badniks here, which was good. Unfortunately the few that were there were huge, but easily avoidable.

When they got close enough to Eggman’s signal Anon grabbed Sonic and started to to sneak around until he found him, and hid behind a rock to eavesdrop. Eggman and Infinite were there, talking about some sort of phantom ruby prototype, whatever that was. Eggman then mentioned a lab getting shut down in mystic jungle, before saying something that almost made Anon gasp out loud.

Sonic was alive. Not just alive, but he was free and with the resistance. After this he’d definitely have to go join the Resistance, if only to see Sonic ~~(and his friends)~~ again.

Something else caught his attention. Eggman’s and Infinite mentioned a plan. Having heard enough Tails tried to retreat, only for Sonic to jump out of hiding as soon as Infinite flew off. Eggman tried to fly away to avoid Sonic after Sonic hit his Egg carrier, only for the small blue blur to chase him down.

“Sonic! Wait- ugh- great... just great.” He started to fun after them. He was to slow to keep up, something he hated about not using his tails. Luckily his PAD was still able to track Eggman’s signal.

“If he gets hurt I swear...” 

~~~ 

Anon arrived at the scene just in time to watch Eggman’s Egg carrier crash to the ground. He ran up to be by Sonic’s side.

“You did it, Hm, I guess I should expect no less from a Sonic.” He turned his attention to the angry and defeated Eggman.

“As for you.” He pulled out his tazer and pointed it at Eggman. “I suggest you start talking about this plan of yours.” Eggman huffed.

“I’m not telling you anything, Anonymous.”

“I see you know who I am.”

“How can I not? You’ve been more meddlesome than the stupid Resistance. You’re the one that’s been supplying them from the beginning after all.”

“Aw, our soon to be ex dictator knows who I am.I’m flattered.” 

“You won’t be so flattered when I destroy you all in three days time!” Eggman’s carrier started to shakily fly up. “Just you wait! You’ll all get what’s coming to you!” He slowly flew off, hohoho’ing. 

“We better get to the Resistance. If this plan is half as good as Eggman thinks it is we might be in trouble.” Sonic nodded.

“Luckily for us, he gave us all the information we needed to track down the Resistance. Mystic Jungle is where Sonic and the others were last seen. That’s where we should go check first.” 


	4. Chapter 4

“Alright... we’ll split here.” Anon said as they reach each Mystic Jungle. “We’ll be able to cover more ground if we split up.” Sonic nodded and without a second of hesitation ran off in one direction. Anon pushed his worries aside and took off in the opposite direction.

His PAD was picking up a lot of radio frequencies, which meant the Resistance was most likely still here. That Sonic was still here. He couldn’t wait to see him again. Though, a part of him was a bit anxious about seeing Sonic. Mainly because he wouldn’t be meeting him as his old little buddy Tails. He’d be meeting him as the alter ego The Anonymous. So while  ~~ Tails  ~~ Anon would have the satisfaction of seeing his best friend and practically older brother and know he was safe, Sonic wouldn’t. Was it selfish of him to hide who he was, especially from Sonic? Maybe it was. But he believed it had to be done. After all, right now Tails needed to be strong, and if let himself be himself, be emotional, he’d just end up slowing everyone down.

As he was mowing down badniks, he failed to catch an egg pawn that had got into his blind spot until it shot him. He fell to the ground, holding his right side. He curled up into a ball as the egg pawns closed in and rolled past them. Once he was away from all the badniks he uncurled and started to check out the damage. the fur was burnt off in a large spot, but there wasn't much bleeding.

"Phew... i got lucky..." he got up and and continued his search. He wobbled a bit,feeling his fatigue again. He was tempted to just lay down and pass out, and he almost did, until he caught sight of his little partner up ahead.

"Sonic..!" he called out. The little guy was by his side in a flash, but he wasnt alone. he was with someone. Anon looked at the guy, he looked familiar.

"Have... we met before..?"

~~~

He opened his eyes, not even remembering closing them. He instantly noticed three things. One, he was being carried. Two, he was inside a building. And Three, he felt horrible. He was going to drift off again when he heard talking, and the person carrying him stopped running.

“Commander Knuckles! We have a situation!”

“Rookie? Calm down, what’s going on?”

“We have an injured member!”

“Who-“

“The Anonymous!” He groaned, this person was way to loud.

“I see, take him to the med bay. I’ll have Amy come in as soon as possible.” And suddenly they were moving again. When the moving stopped he found himself being laid on something pretty comfortable. It was nice.

Unfortunately all the talking made it impossible for him to relax. The voices did sound familiar though. Let’s see, he could hear Amy, Rookie, Vector... and Sonic? Sonic!

He forced his eyes open again and looked around, luckily his mask was still on, unfortunately he was surrounded by friends who wanted to help him- and would likely have to remove his mask and cloak to do so.

“Hmm... mm fine...” he mumbled, and that’s when he noticed something he hadn’t before. The voice changer in his mask was broken. And from the way everyone was looking at him, they had all definitely heard him. Amy was the first to snap out of her shock.

“Okay, his age doesn’t change anything. We still need to make sure he’s not hurt bad, Sonic, be a dear and take off all that extra stuff.”

“Sure thing Ames.”

“N...no mm fine, really...” he tried to sit up.

“Hey, relax kid, it’s alright. We just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“Really, I’m good... just a small burn on my side...” he broke off into a yawn. “And it’s just... been a few weeks since I’ve really slept...” Okay maybe he shouldn’t have told Sonic that. Sonic looked like he was going to go full big brother mode on him.

“But it’s fine..! I’m used to it- after the first few encounters with Infinite I- ... how about I uh- show you that burn so you guys can treat it..? Hehe...” Mentioning Infinite was definitely not the best thing to do. Luckily his compliance was enough to distract him for now.

“Fine.” Anon shifted his cloak to expose his burn.

“I’m not taking the cloak off.”

“Why? Got something to hide?” Sonic pried as Amy came over to check the wound out.

“More than you’ll ever know.”

“Got any family? Friends?”

“I have friends, but until this war is over I can’t be with them.”

“...I’m guessing you and the other me were looking for us if you’re all the way out here.” Anon nodded in response only to shoot up. 

“That’s right! We came here to warn you guys that-!” 

“Lay back down!” Amy scolded.

“Sorry...” he laid back down. “Eggmans planning something. And in three days, he said we’d all be wiped out.” 

“We’ll don’t you worry, a lot can happen in three days! For now just worry about getting better fast. K kid?” Anon smiled behind the mask and nodded. 

“Of course, thank you.”

~~~

“I don’t know about this Knux, it’s only been a few hours, he should be resting, not tracking down evil fakers.”

“The kid said he feels good enough to fight and you’ll need backup if things get ugly out there.”

“Ugh... when did you start using big words like backup?- ow! Geez I’m just kidding, lighten up commander.”

“Ahem.” Anon cleared his throat to get their attention. “Instead of talking we should get going.” He walked over to Sonic. “You ready big buddy?”

“Big buddy?”

“Got a problem with my code name for you?”

“Of course not, little buddy.” Anon froze for a moment, having a slight moment of panic.

“Heh- yeah, uh, I’ll meet you outside.” He rushed out of the base, making sure he had everything on him.

Once outside he exploded in silent euphoria. The past few hours, though awkward for him, were the best few hours he’s experienced in months. He got to see all his friends, he got to see Sonic, Sonic had even hugged him! He’s surprised he didn’t break the second he saw Sonic. He just wished he could’ve indulged a little and actually spend time with them as himself. But he knew he couldn’t. It was hard, but he’d have to hold out a bit longer. He took a deep breath and relaxed, getting back in the zone. 

“Hmph, for the fastest thing alive you sure do like to keep a guy waiting.” 

“It’s called being fashionably late.”

“Sure... come on, let’s get going to the city. We’ve got a date with Shadow The Hedgehog.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s Shadow boizzzzz
> 
> Also uh some fluff I guess

Anon was on his guard as he and Sonic walked the the city, still searching for Shadow. When they had finally found him, something seemed off. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he just knew something was wrong here. 

“Shadow! What’s going on with you huh?” Instead of responding Shadow just charged at Sonic,who just lifted his arms defensively. Anon quickly got in front of Sonic, tazer in hand. Before Shadow could reach them howvever, a familiar voice shouted “Chaos Control!” And in the blink of an eye Shadow was on the ground, and another was next to them. 

“Another Shadow?”

“It’s not that surprising. There’s another Sonic after all.”

“I- ... good point. Wait- he just disappeared!”

“Hm... Shadow, care to elaborate on what exactly is going on?” 

“Infinite can create virtual reality projections. They have mass and form, but no heart and soul.”

“So he can make replicas of anything he wants? That’s definitely concerning...”

“It does explain all those familiar faces in Eggmans army.”

“The problem is, the replicas may not be real, but their powers are as formidable as the originals. According to Rouge, Infinite can create unlimited numbers of them.”

“So no matter how much we fight...”

“He can just keep making reinforcements instantly. As it stands there’s no way we can win.” Sonic smiled at Shadows pessimistic belief. 

“We can win this! We always do! We just haven't figured that part out, yet.” 

“We better report back to HQ right away with this new information.” Sonic and Shadow nodded. Just as they were turning to leave something Anon was not expecting happened. 

“Sonic!” Someone leapt on Sonic, hugging him. “I missed you so much!” Anon couldn’t believe his eyes- well eye.

“Tails!”

~~~

“... Shadow, do you really think that’s Tails..?”  ~~ Tails ~~ Anon whispered. They were on their way back to the Resistance base. Sonic and the fake Tails were lagging behind as they were “catching up”. Anon was only walking with Shadow because he couldn’t stand watching Sonic talk to the fake. 

“Why do you ask?”

“Well... I- I know that’s not really Tails...”

“Well he certainly isn’t acting like a phantom ruby replica.”

“But, Shadow, he can’t be Tails.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m Tails-“ he quickly silenced himself, but it was too late, Shadow had most definitely heard him, it was obvious by the way he suddenly stopped walking. 

“Hey slowpokes! Me and... Anonymous need to go do something.”

“Who are you calling slow, faker?!”

“You, I thought that was obvious.” Shadow grabbed Anon by the wrist and started to run off with him. He could faintly hear Sonic shout out something. Soon the shouts faded to silence and as soon as they were really alone Shadow let him go. There was a certain tension in the air, and it only got more intense when Shadow stared him down. He backed up as shadow stalked closer to him. 

Anon gulped nervously as shadow cornered him. He saw him raise his hand and flinched, he wasn’t sure why but he had expected Shadow to hit him or something. But instead he reached out and carefully took off his mask. 

“... Tails..?”

“Yeah. Look I can explain!-“

“I’d hope so. Better make it fast too. We don’t have all day.”

“Right! Uh well I left because I didn’t think I was really needed. After I found out Sonic was supposedly dead I... kind of lost it.” He sighed. Out loud his reasoning didn’t sound very sound. “And I’m disguised because... I want to distance myself from who I am- or was... I can’t let my emotions get in the way of helping you guys anymore, so using an alter ego and hiding everything just... made sense to me.”

“And you think it made sense to worry your friends?”

“How do you know they were worried about me?” He looked at him like it was a stupid question to ask, and it probably was. 

“Because, according to Rouge, they searched for you for weeks, putting more important things aside. And when they had to stop to focus on fighting Eggman Rouge asked me to look for you.” 

“You? Look for me? You probably gave up on it after the first week.”

“Hmph, I’m insulted you’d think I, the ultimate life form, would ever give up on anything.”

“Well I’m sure you have more important things to do. Besides you don’t even like me.”

“Now that’s just an false claim. I don’t hate you, you’re a... fairly tolerable acquaintance that’s useful to keep around I suppose.” Anon was a bit surprised to say the least. 

“Was that a compliment?”

“It’s up for interpretation.” 

“Then I’ll take it as a compliment!”

“Do what you want. Oh and, don’t worry, I won’t tell any of the others about this. That’s for you too do.” Shadow handed him his mask back. Anon took it and put it back on. 

“Thanks.”

“Did you really think I’d tell the others and make it easier for you?”

“No I wasn’t talking about that. Thanks for well, letting me be me for a bit I guess. And for the whole compliment thing. Maybe we can hang out more often..?”

“I’ll consider it, now come on, we’d better get back to the others before they decide to come looking for us.”

“Right. Heh, hey Shadow, race you to the base.” 

“Oh? Think you can beat me?”

“No, I know I can.”


End file.
